28 September was a special day at our gymnasium. On this day, we celebrated the European Day of Languages, held the first student meeting within the Nordplus Junior CARE project, and signed an important cooperation agreement with a school from Tokat, Türkiye.
The first CARE project meeting brought together students from Lithuania and Latvia. The students introduced themselves, got to know each other and began learning their partners’ language. Although Lithuanian and Latvian are different languages, the students quickly discovered many similar words and unexpected linguistic connections. These discoveries once again showed that languages do not only separate us – they connect people and cultures.
On the same day, our school principal, Renata Krasowska, signed an important cooperation agreement with Zübeyde Hanım VTA High School in Tokat, Türkiye. This marks the beginning of a new stage of international cooperation, as our schools are also preparing a new Erasmus+ project, which will focus on developing digital applications to help reduce waste in schools.
During the online meeting, our students had the opportunity to learn more about their Turkish partner school. They were particularly surprised to discover that only girls study there. It is a secondary school and also a vocational school, offering programmes in areas such as design and cosmetology. The school even has its own TV studio, from which the Turkish students joined our joint online lesson.
The lesson became a real journey through languages. For the Turkish students, Lithuanian was a completely unfamiliar language, while our students were able to recognise some Turkish words they had heard during holidays in Antalya. In this way, even small discoveries about language became a bridge between two very different cultures.
28 September has therefore become a symbolic starting point for a new stage of international cooperation. On this day, young people from Lithuania, Latvia and Türkiye came together, different languages filled the virtual space, new friendships began, and new joint activities were launched.
Most importantly, the students once again discovered that learning languages is not only about learning new words. It is also about discovering other people, their cultures and a world that is much bigger than our everyday surroundings.
Inesa Rusecka
Expert English teacher
Project coordinator
Photos: event participants
The Nordplus Junior project is co-financed by the Nordplus Mobility and Network Programme under the Nordic Council of Ministers. This communication reflects the views of the author only; the Nordic Council of Ministers is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.
Lietuviškai
Polski
Русский
